Wrote this a long time ago. Too short for an article:
Perverted - Hentai in Japanese. But the word pervert means
deviation from normal or accepted. So, how can all guys be
perverts?

Did you ever notice that the sex scene in the movie is generally
at about the same realative place as the guitar solo in a song?

Roll Dampening
Updated: 2009-06-22

I had an idea for active roll dampening. It's pretty complex actually, but not
really. The thing is I have no idea if it will work or what parameters it will
take to make it work. So a lot of testing would be involved.

The basic idea is to create some sort of track that is the width of the ship
your trying to stop from rolling. My initial idea is to use a length of PVC
with a slot cut in it to make it C shaped and caps at both ends. Get a fishing
weight and modify it. The idea is to have a torpedo shaped lead weight with a
metal loop at the top middle. A little bit of oil in the track should make it
move easy. Having a flat surface on the weight will also help.

The next problem is how to move it. I just had an idea. Rig up a pulley on each
end of the tube and tie a string or cable from the weight to one pulley back to
the center where you it wraps around a large servo wheel. It may need to be
locked to the servo wheel. Then it continues on to the other pulley and back to
the weight. When the servo turns the weight moves one direction or the other.

Now the hard part. This device needs to be hooked up to a one dimensional
accelerometer and a computer or some sort of circuit to control it. I was thinking
of putting it through the main ship computer. So when the ship lists to one side
the weight moves to the other side, when the ship returns to level, the weight
centers. This affect should help dampen rocking motion which I have observed is
a problem on these ships. It makes them look like toys.

There may be more to it than that. It may not work at all. It might require such
a large weight that it would not work. Anticipating roll might work better,
different settings may work better or worse. This is one reason to use the
computer.

Jesse wondered if units could be made and sold. I think the unit could be wired
up as a closed system, perhaps with a simplified circuit depending on how they
function. Simply mounting one in a ship and providing power would provide a more
stable ride and more realistic look.

A simplified non-computer version could use a pendulum and a pot. The pot would
control the servo. This is quite an idea. I think I could test it even. This unit
would be very simple, but more prone to mechanical failure. Still it would be
easier to test.

This method could just use a disassembled servo. The servo would have to be
electronically modified so it would think it was receiving commands as I understand
they shut off if they don't get a command every x milliseconds. Anyway hook up
the pot from the servo with a pendulum as previously stated. You might have to
replace the pot with one of different values to get it to respond properly.

When the pot turns one way the servo thinks it's lost it's setting and attempts
to turn the motor to correspond with the pot reading. So when the pendulum shifts
to one side, the weight is quickly shifted to the other and vice versa. Such a
unit could be completely self contained and sealed needing only power. It could be encased
in a small flat box that would sit like a bulkhead and take up an inch or so
of ship length.

Another idea for this would involve trim tabs. However I am not sure that they
would be allowed. But as the desired effect is realism they might be. I'm thinking
that the back of a ship is not well conductive to trim tabs so mounting them on
the end of the flat part of the bottom hull would probably work best. A single
servo could control them, raising one and lowering the other.